Amid continued basement sewage backups, Baltimore still rejects most requests for reimbursement

To city officials who say Baltimore has gotten better at compensating citizens after basement sewer overflows, Natasza Bock-Singleton offers a snort of derision – and the story of the geyser of human waste that fouled her basement on Labor Day weekend last year.

“I literally had poo coming out of the basement toilet and sink. It was just terrible,” said Bock-Singleton. “You feel helpless. This horrible brown water gurgles up and you can’t do anything about it.”

She and a dozen neighbors in her Southwest Baltimore neighborhood had the same horrifying experience that weekend but when they sought reimbursement from the city – for the clean-up, repairs, ruined rugs, furniture, family Bibles and important documents – all of them were turned down.